|
|
Parkinsonian Links
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy for most people with Parkinson's does not involve the skills required to make a living, as one might first expect. Rather it involves the skills required to live a life as independently as possible. There are so many things in life that we do virtually instictively, from getting up out of a chair to turning the pages of a book to eating with utensils to buttoning a button. So easy, but oops - not any more. These once autonomic actions are autonomic no more, and they must now be learned and performed consciously.
The persons licensed to reteach us our life skills, at least in the U.S.A., are Registered Occupational Therapists - or rather Occupational Therapists, Registered (O.T.R.). They also are trained to do the necessary assessments of persons' abilities to live on their own. In smaller programs, where there are not resources to have both physical and occupational therapists, the tendency is for the physical therapist to perform as many of the O.T.R. functions as feasible.
Occupational therapy for Parkinson's is not well represented on the web at the time of this writing, but this page from the AOTA (American Occupational Therapy Association) is a start.
Return to Links Page, "Therapy"
E-mail me with comments at
epr@airmail.net. | It is a sad fact that every web page
like this must add "Disclaimers apply." Revised 7 March, 2004 |  | |
